US ambassador for non secular freedom involved over the therapy of non secular communities in India

The US ambassador at massive for worldwide non secular freedom Rashad Hussain has voiced concern over the therapy of quite a lot of non secular communities in India and stated Washington was dealing straight with Indian officers to handle the “challenges.” Addressing the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit right here on Thursday, Hussain stated his father got here from India to the US in 1969.

“This country gave him everything but he loves India and follows what happens every day. My parents and we have a conversation about that, as do so many of you who reach out to us and are looking at what’s going on in India and love the country and want to see it live up to its values,” he stated.

The US was “concerned” about quite a lot of non secular communities in India and was “dealing directly” with Indian officers to handle the challenges, Hussain stated.

.@SecBlinken feedback on the non secular freedom state of affairs in India, Vietnam, and Nigeria.

For the total report, try https://t.co/5pIRBvZ4lm. #IRFR2021 pic.twitter.com/xsvJh4LSzI

— Office of International Religious Freedom (@StateIRF) June 3, 2022

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“India now has a citizenship law that’s on the books. We’ve had open calls for genocide in India. We’ve had attacks on churches. We have had a ban on the hijab. We’ve had demolitions of homes,” the Indian-American diplomat stated.

“We’ve got rhetoric that’s openly being used that’s dehumanising towards people, to the extent that one minister referred to Muslims as termites,” he stated, apparently referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s feedback. In considered one of his speeches, he referred to Bangladeshi migrants as “termites”.

“So you have these ingredients..so it’s important that we take note and work towards the challenges we face,” he stated, including that it’s the “responsibility” of the United States to talk out on human rights and spiritual freedoms not simply in India, however the world over.

India has repeatedly rejected the criticism towards it within the US State Department studies on non secular freedom and statements by senior officers, saying it’s unlucky that “vote bank politics” is being practised in worldwide relations. In its response, India has expressed concern over racially and ethnically motivated assaults, hate crimes and gun violence within the US.

In his remarks, Hussain additionally stated that he had met with Indian Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and the indigenous individuals.

He recalled that the Early Warning Project of the US Holocaust Museum had “designated India as the number two country in the world at risk of mass killings.” “For any society to live up to its potential, we have to secure the rights of all people. Our job is to protect the religious freedom of all people everywhere in the world” he stated.

“It is important that we work together and fight for the rights of all people. If there is anyone who is attacked – there was an attack yesterday, it was despicable — we have to condemn that too,” he stated, apparently referring to the killing of a tailor in Udaipur.

Two males, recognized as Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, with a cleaver hacked Lal to demise in Udaipur metropolis and posted movies on-line that stated they’re avenging an insult to Islam, triggering stray circumstances of violence within the Rajasthan metropolis.

Referring to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s remarks “about [the] attacks on places and people of worship… in India,” made whereas releasing the US Department of State’s 2021 International Religious Freedom Report on June 2, he rejected the view that the US had no locus standi in assessing world non secular freedoms.

“Some people ask… ‘Who are you as an ambassador for international religious freedom’, or ‘who are you as the United States to make these assessments about other countries in the world?’,” he stated.

“The fairly persuasive answer to this was that the US was founded on religious freedom: many of our founders were fleeing religious persecution themselves. The first amendment in our Constitution protects the freedom of religion,” he stated.

India had rejected the criticism towards it within the US State Department report on non secular freedom final month, saying it’s unlucky that “vote bank politics” is being practised in worldwide relations.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stated the statement on India within the report relies on “motivated inputs and biased views”.

The annual report on worldwide non secular freedom, launched by Secretary of State Blinken alleged that assaults on members of the minority communities, together with killings, assaults, and intimidation, passed off all through 2021 in India.

“We have noted the release of the US State Department 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, and ill-informed comments by senior US officials,” Bagchi stated final month.

“It is unfortunate that vote bank politics is being practised in international relations. We would urge that assessments based on motivated inputs and biased views be avoided,” Bagchi stated.

“As a naturally pluralistic society, India values religious freedom and human rights. In our discussions with the US, we have regularly highlighted issues of concern there, including racially and ethnically motivated attacks, hate crimes and gun violence,” he stated.

The IRF Summit 2022, which ended on Thursday was the second annual gathering of worldwide freedom advocates and activists from around the globe. The organisers forward of the summit stated the 3-day assembly will spotlight rising threats to freedom of faith, conscience and perception, and it’ll as soon as once more supply the IRF neighborhood an opportunity to return collectively to advance shared targets for extending these elementary freedoms to individuals and religion communities throughout the globe.